I will not be afraid...

"I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about." Psalm 3:6

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This morning I opened the New York Times online and read about how "Support Wanes in House for Genocide Vote." It seems that almost a dozen former supporters of the genocide resolution have now had second thoughts about the timing of the vote and are now pushing the House leadership to drop the vote. Why you ask, would co-sponsors suddenly become opponents of their very own resolution? Well, I'm sure that the numerous Turkish paid lobbyists and the millions of dollars spent by their government to fight the resolution have had some impact, but I think that there is another explanation. No one really knows that is going to happen in Iraq and no one wants to be the one responsible when Turkey suddenly restricts the flow of logistics to Iraq. Imagine watching the news that so many Americans were killed today in Iraq and the next story talking about how the Armenian Genocide resolution is the indirect cause of body armour and supplies not reaching the front line troops (or being responsible for a Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq). You can almost hear the question "Honey, how did our congressman vote?... What an idiot!"

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Now, I've never been the biggest supporter of all aspects of the war in Iraq (although I won't hide the fact that I was in favor of the invasion in 2002), but I certainly take issue with such reasoning? What are the Americans in Iraq, if not (as the U.S. State Department says) bringing peace and democracy to the region? How can you have peace in the absence of truth? Less then a century ago over one million, five hundred thousands Armenian fathers, mothers, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, doctors, lawyers, ministers, farmers, school children, artists, etc. with souls, minds and hearts were subjects of rape, torture and murder in an organized attempt to annihilate an entire race of people. How can we not stand up and recognize what happened in 1915? It is quite easy to condemn injustice when it is politically popular and when it doesn't have any cost or negative repercussion that effects you. It's quite another thing to stand upon truth and refuse to waiver amidst a costly storm of opposition. It is at this point that you discover the truth about the sincerity and principals of those who stood with you as fair weather friends, but who had to run back home to get an umbrella. Honest resolutions that have no "resolution" about them are halfhearted and unworthy of the great words and ideas that they contain. America prides itself on being a great nation, and yet it will probably remain silent in 2007 about the Armenian Genocide because of political expediency.

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I thought the best quote in the article was from Congressman John Murtha of Pennsylvania who said "This happened a long time ago and I don't know whether it was a massacre or a genocide, that is beside the point... The point is, we have to deal with today's world." So Congressman Murtha feels that events in the past are only relevant when they prove popular and useful in pursuing our current policies? Congressman, I remember being taught as a boy in school that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It appears that you have not even come to a historical conclusion about whether the events of 1915 were a series of uncoordinated massacres or a systematic policy of genocide, so how can you even lecture us about it's relative importance? Reading between the lines, it appears that reaching a conclusion as to that question is only of importance if there is something to be gained diplomatically by the United States! Perhaps the question needs to be asked as to who is the mercenary... Turkey or the United States? A congressman that can sell his principals so cheaply has only evidenced that he has already sold his soul.